Should we pray to the saints?
The Catholic Catechism teaches that we should pray to the saints:
“The witnesses who have preceded us into the kingdom, especially those whom the Church recognizes as saints, share in the living tradition of prayer by the example of their lives, the transmission of their writings, and their prayer today. They contemplate God, praise him and constantly care for those whom they have left on earth. When they entered into the joy of their Master, they were ‘put in charge of many things.’ Their intercession is their most exalted service to God’s plan. We can and should ask them to intercede for us and for the whole world” (para. 2683).
But the Bible teaches that it is the Holy Spirit and Jesus who intercede for us:
“And the one [God] who searches hearts knows what is the intention of the Spirit, because it intercedes for the holy ones according to God’s will” (Romans 8:27).
“It is Christ [Jesus] who died, rather, was raised, who also is at the right hand of God, who indeed intercedes for us” (Romans 8:34).
“...he [Jesus] is always able to save those who approach God through him, since he [Jesus] lives forever to make intercession for them [believers]” (Hebrews 7:25).
Both Jesus and the Holy Spirit intercede for us, and they are both God. Nowhere does the Bible teach that those who have died before us can intercede for us, and nowhere does the Bible teach us to pray to anyone other than God.
When a person prays to a saint, that person demonstrates his or her belief in that saint, as well as faith and hope in the saint to hear and answer prayer. Despite the fact that the Catholic Catechism encourages belief in the saints, it also teaches the following in agreement with the Bible:
“We must believe in no one but God: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit” (para. 178).
“Faith in God leads us to turn to him alone as our first origin and our ultimate goal, and neither to prefer anything to him nor to substitute anything for him” (para. 229).
The Bible tells us that our faith and hope should be in God. First Peter 1:20 and 21 say,
“He [Jesus] was known before the foundation of the world but revealed in the final time for you, who through him believe in God who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.” (1:20-21)
Since we are to “believe in no one but God,” since “faith in God leads us to turn to him alone,” and since we are to place our faith and hope in God, how can we believe in, have faith and hope in, turn to, or pray to Mary or any other saint?
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